The party moved through the Spider Forest, peering around for any sign of danger. Yvlena knew she wouldn’t get off easy with just a single Spider fight.

  As if she had a sixth sense, she felt the many eyes of the creatures scuttling around the forest watching her.

  Risel kept close, green eyes darting in every direction as she crept through the forest like she was waiting to be attacked. Yvlena guessed in a sense they were all waiting to be attacked by a large being, spider or otherwise.

  She stepped over some grass when she heard the soft growling of a beast she had become all too familiar with.

  A smirk crossed Yvlena’s face at the sight of a black wolf, it had been a while since she’d fought one and at her current level the regular forest mobs were no match for her. The elf brandished her sickle and ran forward before the mob could react.

  [Yvlena Cast Crescent Slash (15MP)]

  She slashed the wolf’s side, listening to it yelp in pain and jump back to ready itself to attack.

  [Sprite Cast Sting (01MP)]

  Sprite flew forward blasting the wolf with her tiny but painful little lights, the wolf snapped it’s jaw’s trying to catch her between it’s teeth but Sprite moved like a dragonfly, zipping around it and allowing Yvlena to deal her own attack.

  The elf slashed the wolf again, giving it no chance to focus on either her or Sprite, Rabbit Knight didn’t need to step in before the mob was downed by their combined efforts.

  [Yvlena Acquired

  Exp:1050/2700

  ***

  Wolf Fang x2

  Wolf Pelt x1

  ***

  Moon Points x200]

  [Skill: Sting leveled up]

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  “Whoa that was about 150 exp by my calculation so this wolf was a lot stronger than all the others I’ve fought before, I should really grind more. I still have to fight Mars for the VR Gear.” Yvlena said to herself.

  She realized the Wolf would have given more exp if Risel wasn’t by her side but that didn’t matter, she was happy to have a party member with her that didn’t run head first into danger.

  “You didn’t need my help at all!” Risel said from behind her, running up to Yvlena with her pack bobbing as she walked. The blonde elf studied Yvlena’s face intently.

  “There isn’t even a scratch on you.” Risel said patting Yvlena down.

  “I’m getting better at fighting.” Yvlena said with a shrug. It felt good to be a lot stronger in now. Her previous battles would have had her calling for Sprite to cast cure often, but with her growth those would be few and far in-between.

  Yvlena wondered if that would be enough to fight Enis or any of the pollutant gods lurking around to ruin the lives of the NPCs she had come to love. She stifled the thought for now, there was still a lot to do before then.

  ----------

  The Spider Forest grew thicker the deeper they thread, soon Yvlena felt the unmistakable presence of the Miasma, she glanced down at her feet, watching the grass slowly fade from dark green to a deep withered black that crunched under her Adventurer’s boots.

  “It’s just like before.” Sprite whispered by her side. Yvlena nodded, understanding they had never ventured this far into the Verdant Forest’s path.

  The area she called the Spider Forest was marked the Deeper Verdant Forest but due to the presence of the arachnids she and Risel had agreed to called it the Spider Forest. It was all part of the larger area called the Verdant Woods.

  “It doesn’t look like the path to the next town at all.” Risel gasped, the blonde elf recalled the memories of walking through this same path to visit her brother and mother who lived in the next town, but now she could barely make out their direction.

  The trees grew large and poisoned, dripping with Miasmic sap. Their wood was dark and rotted from the poison that refused to let them go. Above them, sunlight managed to pierce through the canopy of perforated leaves allowing a few specs of light to shine through.

  “I see you’re just as confused as I am, goddess help us.” Yvlena teased.

  Her words seemed to help Risel loosen up, the alchemist turned to her with a smile and rested her hands on her hips.

  “I can’t make heads or tails of it, at least I know there won’t be any more forks in the road from here.” Risel said.

  Yvlena nodded, but felt a little silly. If she had scouted ahead before she had decided to bring Risel along the both of them would be having a smoother journey by now.

  ‘What’s done is done and Risel is a surprisingly good support NPC.’ Yvlena thought holding on to her sickle, at this point she wished the Ever Bloom would guide.

  “No use dallying, let’s keep walking.” Yvlena threw her arm around Risel and pulled her along through the gnarled branches, careful to watch where they stepped. It was a surprise Risel didn’t want to take some for herself but Yvlena could always gather it and sell it to her if she was interested.

  “I can’t even find potion ingredients here, everything’s so rotted.” Risel complained. She stooped down to inspect a withered bush, Risel reached a hand towards it then recoiled as the foliage released a hiss before crumpling into the dirt.

  “How would the people of the Verdant Vale even be thriving through all this?” She asked.

  “I’m sure they’ve found a way to live through the worst of it, Bloom Haven persevered despite the Miasma.” Yvlena said.

  “Yes, but Yvlena you must know by now that Bloom Haven is special.” Risel said staring into Yvlena’s eyes.

  Yvlena nodded, knowing from the lore she had gathered that Bloom Haven was under the protection of two gods. The land had a blessing placed upon it, but did that mean the Verdant Vale didn’t have the same.

  “Vaelindor and Selendriel’s blessing doesn’t extend to the next town?” Yvlena asked in concern. Did that mean the Verdant Vale would be her first instance of the outside world?

  Risel shook her head in response to the question.

  “It’s different, you’ve seen the Traveler’s temple and the Outpost haven’t you?” Risel said.

  “Yeah I have, but why is that?”

  “Well the story goes, Vaelindor and Selendriel cast this blessing as they were dying.” Risel said sadly.

  Yvlena paused, so Risel knew the gods of Moon Valley were dead. Did that mean only the pollutant gods were free to roam the world?

  “Dying? Like during the war of the gods?” Yvlena asked. Another piece of the puzzle had come together, if the two gods had cast the blessing while dying and as Bavga mentioned before the Miasma is born from the death of a god.

  Then could that mean the Miasma surrounding Bloom Haven, was caused by their patron gods?

  Read more here!